Showing posts with label Lac Megantic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lac Megantic. Show all posts

Thursday, July 13, 2017

Justice for Lac Megantic

July 11, Citizens for a Clean Harbor held a benefit for the Harding Labrie Defense Fund, and raised $135. Thank you to everyone involved!

For background on the case, listen to this radio interview from Your Rights at Work! via Pacifica Radio
Herbert Harris Jr (Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers &
Trainmen) reports on a local fundraiser to support Canadian rail workers being blamed for management’s mistakes in the 2013 Lac Megantic disaster.
Interview begins at 14.40
Our own Donna Albert sang this song for us.

Special thanks go to Fritz Edler of Railroad Workers United, for all his help and insightful discussion via Skype.

The Evidence is in: The Train Crew did not Cause the Lac-Mégantic Tragedy
Music Benefit for Lac-Mégantic Rail Worker Defense a great success!
Over $1700 raised kicking off fund drive for defense of the scapegoated rail workers and fighting for safe rails everywhere.

How many more have to die?

July 6th this year marks four years since a runaway train carrying volatile Bakken crude crashed and burned in the small town of Lac-Mégantic, Quebec, killing 47 and destroying half the town. It’s time to recommit to making sure tragedies like this don’t happen again. It’s also the right time to speak up against the criminal trial beginning September 11th this year, that unfairly and inaccurately hangs the Lac-Mégantic crash on two railroad workers, Tom Harding and Richard Labrie.
Railroad managers push hard to squeeze every dollar they can out of every train run. The Lac-Mégantic train had a dangerous cargo, overlong train, defective equipment, a single crew-member and work rules that cut the margin of safety down to just about zero. The result was a disaster that still impacts the Lac-Mégantic community.
Multiple government safety investigations and independent journalists looked at what happened in Lac-Mégantic and came to the same conclusion. Railroad management policies made this kind of runaway train crash likely to happen sooner or later. Lax government oversight looked the other way until it did.
You would think that four years later there would be stronger safety regulations on every railroad, with extra layers of protection for dangerous cargo. Sadly, this is not the case. Railroad policymakers are still cutting corners and government regulators are still looking the other way. They want people to believe that the big safety problem is a few careless railroad workers.  But in Lac-Mégantic, SINCE the wreck, the supposedly safely restored wreck curve has now deteriorated and keeps that community at risk.  Everyone there tightens up when a train passes now.
Even after all the reports and exposes, the Canadian and Quebec governments are still not going after the railroad policy makers and their unsafe policies. The managers who made the critical policies will not even get a slap on the wrist. That’s just wrong, and it guarantees that the danger continues. Every year since the crash, the number of reported runaway trains in Canada has increased. That’s a sign of a reckless culture, not the actions of two rail-road workers one night in Quebec.
Whether your main issue is the environment, community safety, rail safety, or worker’s rights, it comes down to stronger government regulations and stronger railroad safety policies, with real community and labor enforcement. The two railroad workers were not the cause of the Lac-Mégantic crash or any of the runaway trains since then. They are not the ones still running trains right through the town of Lac-Mégantic, ignoring the demands of the survivors for a simple rail bypass. The people in Lac-Mégantic know that sending Harding and Labrie to prison won’t address any of their problems with the railroad. But if that happens, you can bet the government will close the book as the official verdict on Lac-Mégantic and railroad management will be standing there with them.
When you hold public commemorations this year, we ask you to make this point your way. Blaming Harding and Labrie for the Lac-Mégantic tragedy weakens all of us and all our causes. So all of us have to speak up.

Justice for Lac-Mégantic requires Dropping the Charges Against Harding & Labrie

see page 2 for more from Lac Megantic
Read more »
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Saturday, February 13, 2016

"crude oil is bad for fish"

FISH

Fish deformities spiked after Lac-Mégantic oil spill, report says

via Hamilton Spectator
By Allan Woods
MONTREAL Scientists have recorded an "unprecedented" spike in the fish deformities in the wake of the deadly 2013 train derailment and oil spill in Lac-Mégantic, Que., according to a provincial government report.
The report into the effects of the disaster on the 185-km-long Chaudière River, which begins in Lac Mégantic, found that in some parts of the river as many as 47 per cent of the fish they collected had an external deformation.
The rate of deformations greatly surpassed that recorded in a similar fish population study in 1994. The study also found a "marked drop" in the river's fish biomass, or total weight.
"There is no hypothesis other than the oil spill of July 6, 2013 that can explain these results," says the report, which got little attention when it was released last November. It was brought to wider attention Wednesday when resurrected by Montreal's Le Devoir newspaper.

The Train Derailment That Gushed Oil Into A Quebec River
Has Spawned Freaky Fish

via Vice NewsBy Jake Bleiberg February 11, 2016 | 9:00 am

Two-and-a-half years after a train carrying millions of gallons of crude oil derailed and exploded in the small Quebec town of Lac-Mégantic, scientists are finding deformities in the fish living in nearby rivers.
That's led the government to a revelation: crude oil is bad for fish.

No shit.
What is shocking, however, is the extent of the problem: the rate of the deformations in one sample was found to be ten times higher than normal.---------------Normally such abnormalities are found in fewer than five percent of fish and back in 1994 their occurrence was even lower in the Chaudière, the report states. But in the year following the oil spill the river's fish showed much higher rates of deformity — with two samples reaching 35 and 47 percent. The study also noted a significant drop in river's fish biomass, or collective weight.
"In addition to being much higher than in 1994, the rate of anomalies in the Chaudière River in 2014 significantly exceeded what is generally observed in all other waterways of Quebec," the report states. "These high rates are attributable, in all likelihood, to the July 2013 oil spill."Although the spilled oil still seems to be affecting the fish, the waters of the Chaudière are largely free of it and the scope and concentration of oil in the riverbed has fallen significantly since 2013. The persistent impact on the fish didn't surprise Isabelle Picard, an aquatic biologist, who said toxins in the sediments where fish spawn are a major driver of deformities.
How would you like to have all the info and action items about Crude, Coal and other plans around the Northwest sent to you in a friendly email once a week or so? Sign Lynne Oulmans petition and find out what you can do in a timely manner.

Good Evening Petitioners (Feb. 13, 2016, 5.30 PM),
How are you all holding up?  I have not been getting a lot of feedback and thought it might be good to put this on top of the list today. Comments besides submissions are always welcome.
The actions keep coming and the work seems never ending.  I wish we could get our State to ask for a Programmatic, Cumulative Studyof all the fossil fuel projects focusing on Washington and Oregon. It seems like the obvious thing to do – a regional investigation of all the problems associated with fossil fuel and related industrial development.  Instead, we must continue this game of wack-a mole.

Once again, I hope you will dig in your toes and hold the line. Our children and theirs deserve at least this much. Thank you as always for your never-ending efforts.  I hope you have a happy and safe Valentine’s Day.
Lynne Oulman (Petition URL directly below.  Please help push the number to 10,000!)
_______________________________________
A) ACTIONS & EVENTS:
_______________________________________
1a) From Dres - Environmental Action
______________
2a) From John via Tom – WORC
“Living With Oil & Gas”
________________
3a) From PSR
“Join us in telling the nation's governors: It's time to proceed with the Clean Power Plan. …”
_________
4a) From Brandy – Climate Truth  (OMG – hard to believe..-L)
“…To see how we’re keeping climate in the election conversation,watch Miami resident and Cuban refugee Maribel Balbin confront Senator Rubio about the threat that climate change poses to their shared community. (Spoiler: he’s not interested.) …”
___________
5a) From MEIC
“Contact the Montana Public Service Commission TODAY and ask them not to approve MDU’s proposed rate increase to fund 1958 vintage coal units like the Lewis and Clark Station. Instead, the PSC should encourage the utility to invest that money in new, affordable renewable energy resources. …”
_________
6a) From Alex – Forest Ethics
“…-- several of dirty energy’s best friends in the State Senate want to make it harder for you to weigh in by proposing two measures that would stifle your voice: SB 6224 & SB 6527. â€¨â€¨You have the right to be heard. Contact your State Senator and ask them to stand up for the people of Washington State and vote against these measures (this page is from our friends at Stand Up to Oil). …”
__________
7a) From Cecile – Environment WA Solar Organizer
“…State legislators are considering a bill to expand and extend the WA State Renewable Cost Recovery Incentive Program. This programas has effectively encouraged thousands of Washington State residents and businesses to invest in and install solar in their neighborhoods. 

If legislators don’t act, this program expires in 2020, and is already hitting caps that are undermining the continued growth of solar in WA.

Tell your legislators to support clean renewable energy, and to pass the renewable energy incentive bill (HB 2346). …” https://environmentwashington.webaction.org/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=14744&utm_source=Salsa&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=WAE4-SENG:SOLAR-0216&utm_content=EM6:01A:0TH-LLP&uid=497456
________________
8a) From Lynne -  Please Join Wild Earth Guardians
__________
9a) From David - Oil Change
“…Right now, communities across Iowa are in a pitched battle against the fossil fuel industry. At stake is ANOTHER massive oil pipeline cutting across the heartland of the United States. It’s called the ‘Dakota Access’ pipeline and, if built, would further incentivize decades of Bakken shale oil development. …”
____________
10a) From Matt Petryni – RE Sources – (interesting twist…-L)
_______________________________________________________
B) IMPORTANT ARTICLES:
______________________________________
1b) From Tom:
& SNL –
“UPDATE: 'End of an Era': Arch joins list of nearly 50 coal bankruptcies since 2012”
& Commondreams
__________
2b) From Truthout
_____________________
3b) From Emily – EDF
___________________
4b) From Sightline Daily
______________
5b) From Waterkeeper Alliance
________________
6b) From DeSmog Canada
&
___________
7b) From Matt P – RE Sources
____________________
8b) Lynne’s Disclaimer
I am a citizen with no obligation to any particular group. I started the petition July 11, 2011, when Gregoire was Washington’s governor (hence her name is listed). All the listed recipients have received their copies. Every now and then, I print a hardcopy to share with various politicians and influential individuals. Recently I gave a hardcopy to now WA Governor Inslee.
My emails happen when information hits a critical mass, or when an action/event is imminent. Sometimes information comes to me with little time to spare. I do my best to be accurate and try to send out responsible information.  At times, events get changed, or the internet connection gets hung up, but I try to stay on top of problems. I welcome your input and hope you find this list a way to stay connected and informed. If the emails get to be burdensome, you may unsubscribe following the link at the bottom of the petition email.If your name gets dropped by accident, simply re-sign the petition. The SignOn system eliminates duplicate signatures. SignOn manages the list, so I have no power to add or subtract a name. I may not fund raise, and the system is unable to accommodate attachments, pdf-s, or pictures.

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Saturday, July 11, 2015

Billions Needed to Restore Wetlands Polluted by Oil Industry in NJ

Bayway Refinery
An aerial photograph shows the Bayway oil refinery complex in Linden, New Jersey.

Exxon New Jersey Settlement Under Fire Again As Environmentalists Seek To Join Lawsuit


By    International Business Times    July 10, 2015

 New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s administration wants Exxon Mobil Corp. to fork over $225 million for a pair of oil refineries that dumped toxic chemicals into New Jersey's soil and water for decades. But the sum is a drop in the bucket compared with the billions of dollars needed to remove pollution and restore nearby wetlands, environmental groups say.

The organizations this week are seeking to intervene in the case between the U.S. oil giant and the state of New Jersey. The Natural Resources Defense Council, which is leading the effort, will ask a state judge Friday to make the organization a party to the litigation. The move would allow NRDC to argue in court for a higher settlement.,,,,

.... At the center of the saga are two massive oil refinery sites: the Bayway refinery in Linden, and another in the town of Bayonne. The facilities, both more than a century old, leaked millions of gallons of oil and 600 different contaminants into the soil during the time Exxon owned the plants, a state judge determined. The pollution covers or is buried under about 1,800 acres of wetlands, forests, meadows and waterways.

Nearly 1 million New Jersey residents live near the refineries in mostly blue-collar neighborhoods. The area used to be a popular spot for fishing, hunting and kayaking, but much of the land and water near the plants is now unusable. Plastic booms still float at the mouths of some creeks to capture the oil and chemicals that continue seeping into the water.....   more here


Canadian gov’t adds new charges against unionist in 2013 rail disaster


BY JOHN STEELE   The Militant  July 20, 2015

MONTREAL — Almost two years after the Lac-Mégantic, Quebec, rail disaster, which killed 47 people and destroyed the downtown core of the community of 5,000, the federal government agency Transport Canada has filed criminal charges against locomotive engineer Tom Harding for allegedly violating the Railway Safety Act and the Fisheries Act. Charges were also filed against five officials of the now-bankrupt Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway, including CEO Robert Grindrod, as well as against the company itself. 

The July 6, 2013, train derailment and explosion put a spotlight on how the rail bosses put profits ahead of safety, especially the company’s insistence on operating with a one-person “crew,” with government agreement.

Harding is already due in court Sept. 8 to set the date for his trial on frame-up charges of 47 counts of criminal negligence causing death levied by Quebec’s crown prosecutor. Those charges could result in life imprisonment. The new charges could bring a $50,000 fine and six months in prison.

Harding is a member of the United Steelworkers union. Train controller and USW member Richard Labrie faces the same charges in Quebec, as does manager of train operations Jean Demaitre. The USW in Quebec has been raising funds to defend the two union members.

Transport Canada says the accused failed to ensure that the train’s hand brakes were properly set. The hand brakes were one of 18 factors that the report of the federal Transportation Safety Board said contributed to the disaster. Others included a “weak safety culture” on the railroad.

The company’s former owner, Edward Burkhardt, has not been charged.

The fact the federal government as a cost-cutting measure allowed the rail company to operate the 72-car crude oil train without a two-person crew was considered but not included as a “factor” in the final published report.

As he had done for years, in keeping with company regulations, Harding parked the train on a grade about seven miles from Lac-Mégantic with the engine running and the air brakes on. He set hand brakes on seven tanker cars and took a cab to a hotel to sleep.

During the night firemen were called to put out a small fire on the lead locomotive. When Harding asked his dispatcher if he should come because of the fire, he was told to go back to sleep because everything was OK. However, when the firemen shut down the engine they unknowingly turned off the air brake system. With no one on board, the train rolled down the grade, picking up speed, and derailed and exploded in downtown Lac-Mégantic.

In addition to the horrendous loss of life and destruction of 40 buildings, the explosion and fire released 1.5 million gallons of crude oil into the lake and contaminated 560,000 tons of soil. The charges under the Fisheries Act stem from the oil spill.

The explosion woke Harding, who rushed to the site, risking his life to help depressurize brakes on some of the cars that had not caught fire so they could be moved. For this reason, many in Lac-Mégantic consider him a hero.

Harding’s lawyer, Thomas Walsh, questioned the timing of the new charges against the engineer, criticizing the federal government for trying to look proactive after years of allowing unsafe railway practices like understaffing. “Now they’re coming out as if they’re taking care of business … by two years later accusing him [Harding] of something he’s already been accused of,” Walsh told the Globe and Mail. “What the hell is the point?”

“I agree there should be justice,” businessman Raymond Lafontaine, who lost his son, two stepdaughters and an employee in the disaster, told the press. But “it feels like we’re still looking for people to blame.” There are people higher up in the company that need to be held accountable, he said. 

Meanwhile, Canadian Pacific Railway, which hauled the oil from North Dakota to Montreal before handing it over to Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway, is refusing to contribute to a $430 million settlement fund for victims’ families. The Calgary-based company argued in a Quebec court recently that it wasn’t involved. If Canadian Pacific is successful, compensation could be delayed for years.

The Steelworkers and fellow rail workers in Canada and the U.S. are raising defense funds for Harding and Labrie. To contribute in Canada, send checks to Syndicat des Métallos, 565 boulevard Crémazie Est, bureau 5100, Montreal, Quebec H2M 2V8, or go online to www.justice4USWrailworkers.org.

In the United States, checks can be sent to Tom Harding Defense Fund, First Niagara Bank, 25 McClellan Dr., Nassau, NY 12123 or visit www.tomhardingdefensefund.com.

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Sunday, July 5, 2015

The ties that bind: A special report two years after the Lac-Mégantic tragedy

Lucas Oleniuk/Getty Images

The ties that bind: A special report two years after the Lac-Mégantic tragedy

Jesse Feith, Montreal Gazette    July 3, 2015

Two years after the train derailment that killed 47 people, Lac-Mégantic’s relationship with the railroad it was built around is complicated.
The town’s fate has always been intertwined with that of the railroad. Lac-Mégantic was founded after the tracks were put down in the late 1880s, and has relied on the rails for survival ever since.

Families moved ever closer to the railroad, and grew to trust it. Even as town officials lodged complaints about the decaying tracks over the last 20 years, that trust remained.

The importance of the tracks to this Eastern Townships municipality is such that they were repaired before many of the buildings that were destroyed when the crude-carrying tank cars exploded in the heart of town.

Despite the destruction now associated with the railroad, when the first train came through town five months after the disaster, many people saw it as the beginning of Lac-Mégantic’s rebirth.

Residents knew they had to set aside their fear and anger if the town was to survive economically. One out of six jobs in town still has ties to the railroad.

“We had no choice, really,” town councillor Richard Michaud says. “Hundreds of jobs depend on (the railroad) here, and we couldn’t risk losing them.”

But the trust is gone.

........Montreal Gazette reporter Jesse Feith and photojournalist John Kenney visited towns along the route linking the Bakken oil formation and Lac-Mégantic to explore the relationships between people and their railroads. Here are the stories they’ve brought back.....   more here


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Monday, June 29, 2015

July 5th Memorial for Lac-Mégantic Oil Train Explosion Victims

This Sunday, July 5th at Zelasko Park 3pm  – 5 pm

Public Invited to Join Memorial for Oil Train Explosion Victims

ABERDEEN, WA  

This Sunday, July 5th, citizens from around the Grays Harbor area will be hosting the 1st annual memorial for those who were lost on July 6, 2013 when a runaway train carrying Bakken crude oil derailed and exploded in the center of Lac-Mégantic, Quebec, and 47 people perished in the inferno that followed.. 

The rally will be held at Zelasko Park, located on F Street between Wishkah and Heron Streets in Aberdeen from 3 pm to 5 pm. The rally is also in recognition of the week-long (July 1st – 6th) 160th anniversary celebration of the Treaty of Olympia.

A letter from Lac-Mégantic, Quebec resident, Jacques Gagnon of the Citizens Committee of Lac-Mégantic will be read to update us on what has happened since that tragic day. This event augments a National Stop Oil Trains Week of Action taking place from  July 6 – 12   to call attention to the growing threat of oil trains across North America.  Organizers ask the citizens of all local communities to send a clear message that the risks created by crude oil trains and terminals are just too great.


A second event follows at 5:30 pm:

A Concert with Anne Feeney & Dana Lyons



5:30 - 8 PM
Aberdeen VFW
105 E. Heron, Aberdeen WA                             Suggested donation: $15-$25

Notorious labor hell-raiser Anne Feeney and iconic environmental singer Dana Lyons team up to launch Teamsters and Turtles – Together at Last!  On their 2015 West Coast tour they are making a stop in Aberdeen on July 5 for a fundraiser for Grays Harbor Community Public Radio, KGHI/KGHE FM, sponsored by The Grays Harbor Institute.

Please join us!         for more info: cleangraysharbor@gmail.com

[Coalition note: there will be no Coalition meeting on July 9th]
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Sunday, June 21, 2015

The Human Cost of America's Energy Boom

 

A gas flare is seen at an oil well site on July 26, 2013 outside Williston, North Dakota. (Andrew Burton/Getty)

The Human Cost of America's Energy Boom

The Takeaway  WNYC   June 15, 2015

for full report from The Center for Investigative Reporting,  see:  In North Dakota’s Bakken oil boom, there will be blood Reveal


Over the last decade, the United States has undergone an economic transformation in energy production. As President Obama told Congress in his 2014 State of the Union address, "Today America is closer to energy independence than we have been in decades."

The United States has surpassed even Saudi Arabia in oil and gas production, in part because of fracking technology, which allows energy companies to reach oil and gas deposits they could never access previously.

One of those deposits lies in the Bakken oil fields, which stretches 170 square miles from North Dakota to Montana and into Canada. An estimated 7.4 billion barrels of undiscovered oil are sitting under the U.S. portion of the Bakken, and thanks to fracking, the industry now has the technology extract that oil.

Workers have flocked to the Bakken for jobs with six-figure salaries that don't require advanced degrees. But a new investigation from Reveal, a public radio program from the Center for Investigative Reporting, finds that those high-paying jobs come with a high price.

In the first comprehensive analysis of its kind, Reveal found that, on average, a worker dies about every six weeks from an accident in the Bakken, with at least 74 deaths in the oil fields since 2006.

Jennifer Gollan, a reporter with Reveal, led the investigation. She says that the top energy firms may be championing speed over safety—something that was seen in September 2011 after a well owned by Oasis Petroleum exploded in North Dakota.

“The supervisor on this well was congratulated for working quickly and setting a new drilling record” months before the explosion, says Gollan. “She went on to call this record-holding well a 'pace-setter.'"

Oasis offered workers daily bonuses of $150 for drilling quickly—those who drill slower and safer are only offered $40 a day.

“Safety is tantamount at Oasis,” spokesman Brian Kennedy told Gollan. “Bonuses should not have been paid, and we regret that they were.”

The day before the explosion in 2011, Gollan says that a crew of four men were brought on site to get the well to produce more oil.

According to documents from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), a supervisor had pumped heavy salt water into the well to prevent volatile gases from escaping before the crew set to work the next day. But the well wound up erupting into a fireball.

 
View of three oil wells and flaring of natural gas on The Fort Berthold Indian Reservation near New Town, ND on August 13, 2014.  (Linda Davidson/The Washington Post/Getty)

Jebadiah “Jesse” Stanfill bared witness to the events of the day.

“They were beyond burned. Nothing but char. The smell of flesh burning. … It smelled of crude oil.” — Jebadiah Stanfill, oil worker

“He was working on an oil rig less than a mile away,” says Gollan. “He was near the top of the rig when he heard this boom. He spun around, grabbed a fire extinguisher and first aid kit, and jumped in this truck with two co-workers.”

But Stanfill and his friends were too late—two men had died and two others were injured.

“As Jesse was helping to pick up some of these men to load them into the bed of this pick up truck to bring them to the ambulance, some of the men’s skin came off in his hands,” says Gollan. “That is a feeling that, to this day, he just can’t shake.”

Gollan says that Stanfill has gear to protect himself from that horrific memory—he is usually wearing gloves, even when he’s playing with his children or cooking in the kitchen.

“How can a simple thing like looking at your hands or washing your hands send you completely enveloped back to that day,” Stanfill told Gollan. “The scenery changes. It’s as if I’m there. It rules my life.”

Brendan Wegner was one of the men who died in the well explosion.

“He was just 21. It was his first day on a rig,” says Gollan. “He was scrambling down the derrick ladder when the well exploded. It consumed him in this fiery tornado of oil and petroleum vapors. Rescuers later found his body pinned under this heap of twisted metal. His charred hands were recovered later still gripping the derrick ladder.”

Another man named Ray Hardy died the next day from his injuries. Michael Twinn had his lower legs amputated after the explosion. He committed suicide two years later.

“There was just one lone survivor who was burned over half of his body,” Gollan says of a man named Doug Hysjulien.

It appears that the victims of this explosion are the casualties of a flawed system.

“OSHA regulators will tell you that they often have to rely on a part of the law called the general duty clause,” says Gollan. “Basically, it makes it very difficult for them to hold top energy producers accountable because they typically don’t have direct employees on these well sites. As a result, in many of these cases, the top energy producers are not fined. It’s the subcontractor—typically the company that employs these workers—that get fined.”

Four of America’s largest energy-producing states—Texas, Louisiana, New Mexico and Wyoming—have adopted statutes that prevent or limit oil companies from shifting liability to smaller contractors.

Wyoming set up a task force to address worker safety back in 2008, a move that started the Wyoming Oil and Gas Industry Safety Alliance. Between 2008 and 2012, the state saw a 45 percent decrease in the number of worker deaths in the oil and gas industry.

Click on the audio player at the site to hear Jack Bedessem, the past president and advisor to the board of the Alliance, explain how Wyoming is working to improve worker safety, especially in the oil and gas industry.

Cost of Doing Business? Oil Companies Agree To Pay For Some of Lac-Megantic Damages, But Not to Solve the Real Problems

By Justin Mikulka • Sunday, June 21, 2015    DeSmogBlog

Although insisting the industry is not to blame, several of the oil companies involved in the fatal Lac-Megantic oil train accident in 2013 have agreed to contribute to a fund to compensate the families of the 47 victims in that accident.

The Wall Street Journal reported recently that oil companies Shell, ConocoPhillips, Marathon and Irving have all agreed to contribute to the fund to avoid future litigation, along with General Electric and the Canadian government. While the actual amounts contributed by most companies involved are not available, the total fund is reportedly at $345 million. That sounds like a lot of money but still is less than the $400 million retirement package for Exxon’s last CEO, for example.

Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. hasn't agreed to the settlement, according to the Bangor Daily News, which reports that the judge in the case has delayed his decision on the settlement. Canadian Pacific has asked the court to shield it from future litigation and challenged the Quebec provincial court’s jurisdiction.
It is no surprise that oil companies would prefer to pay fines of tens of millions of dollars to avoid future litigation as well as duck responsibility for the full cost of the cleanup. Rebuilding the destroyed Lac Megantic property is expected to take as long as eight years and as much as $2.7 billion......    more here

 

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